Jump Start # 565

Acts 5:38-39 “So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God.”

Our verse today focuses upon the advice of Gamaliel, a famous Jewish rabbi in Jerusalem. He tutored Saul who later became the apostle Paul. He was highly respected among the Jews. The apostles, especially Peter and John, were preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem. They were arrested and threatened and then released. They immediately preached again. They were arrested again. During the night, an angel appeared and released them. The next day, they were again preaching Jesus. Again, for the third time, they were arrested. The crowd of Jewish authorities grew impatient and hostile by Peter’s continual accusations that they were responsible for the death of Jesus. That was a real twist. Before the crucifixion, these Jewish leaders told Pilate that he would be innocent in all this and let the blood of Jesus, be upon them. Now that it was done, they didn’t want fingers pointing to them. The Jewish leaders wanted to kill Peter and John.

That seemed to be the solution that they turned to so often when someone disagreed with them, kill them. They did that to Jesus. They wanted to do that here with Peter. They would do that later with Stephen. Silence the messenger instead of answering his arguments.

Gamaliel was present for these hearings against the apostles. He offered a calm voice to a riotous crowd. He reminded the audience of two other uprisings in recent times. One by Theudas and another by Judas of Galilee. They both had a following. Both men died and what they started died out and went away. Gamaliel sees a parallel between the examples of these two radicals and Jesus Christ. Jesus, like the two radicals, had a following. Like the radicals, Jesus died. Gamaliel’s thought was that this Jesus movement will die away as well. His advice, “stay away from these men” was based upon the idea that if the movement was from men it will be overthrown, however, if it is from God, nothing will stop it.

The audience listened to Gamaliel. Little did they realize that Peter and John were part of God’s eternal plan and indeed, it would not be stopped. God had established His kingdom and it would grow and fill the entire earth, just as He planned and purposed.

There is a part of Gamaliel’s advice that isn’t right. He thought that if something is not from God, then it would be overthrown and not survive. That’s not true and that advice has led some to think that God is behind things that He’s not.

• Error has been around for a long, long time. It hasn’t died out. There are some religious teachings that are as old as Christianity and they are not part of the Gospel of Christ. They are not correct Biblically. Leaving them alone is not the answer. Paul told the Ephesians not to participate in the deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. Error is not to be left alone. It will not go away. It needs to be rebuked and shown to be false. God has allowed “strange delusions” to exist for those who do not love the truth. Gamaliel’s advice doesn’t work with error.
• Sin has been around for a long time. Again, leaving it alone will not cause it to go away. Usually, just the opposite happens, it tends to grow and spread and affect others. Paul told the Corinthian church that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Sin influences others to join in and welcomes all to walk in darkness. Sin hurts God, wounds our relationship with Him, and destroys the good that we are trying to do. Ignoring or tolerating wrong is never the right answer.
• Ignorance is another thing that just doesn’t go away. Spiritual or Biblical ignorance cripples the possibility that a church has and limits what it can do. The spiritually ignorant can’t teach a class, they don’t understand. The spiritually ignorant continually bring up ideas that are inaccurate and concepts that are not Biblically sound. Often, the Biblically ignorant can be very loud and vocal and their opinions thought to be as true as Scripture. Leaving such people in the darkness of ignorance is not the answer. Teach them. Show them. Explain to them. Enlighten them. That’s the answer. God’s call is for us to “go into all the world and preach the Gospel.”

The advice of Gamaliel isn’t true even though on the surface it seems good. That ought to tell us that the advice of others may not be any better than Gamaliel’s. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone thinks their opinion is the best. Often it’s not. Dumb advice is common. People will advise you about what you need to do with your money. They advise you about diets, raising kids, health tips, exercise plans, even buying cars and where to vacation. Everyone’s got an opinion. Some are good. Some stink. Some are right. Some are wrong. Some talk without thinking, advising others on things that they have never done themselves. Some haven’t thought out their advice. The consequences of what they advise can be dangerous and even unBiblical, but nevertheless, they are quick to tell others what to do.

This tells us that we need to measure what others say with God’s word. Advice from brethren, even preachers, need to considered in light of what God has said. Any one is capable of handing out dumb advice. That’s easy to do. We love to tell others what to do and how they ought to do it. Seems to me that if people put that same amount of effort into their own lives as they do other people, then they would be better off.

So we need to measure what advice that is given to us and we need to be careful in giving advice. Parents of grown children have a hard time with this. It’s hard to see your child as grown and often we parents get a bit too involved in things that aren’t our business anymore. Our advice can be as welcome and comforting as a cold winter morning. Who wants that? It puts a strain upon our the mates of our children because it is received as butting in and running their lives. Unless things are dangerous or Biblically wrong, parents have to take a deep breath and realize that their grown kids may do things differently than mom and dad. Be careful with the advice, especially if it is not asked for nor wanted. The good that you advise may cause more harm as it is perceived that you are sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.

Notice today how much advice floats around. You’ll hear it at work, school, stores and at home. Some of it is good and helpful and can make a difference in your life. Some of it is dumb and the person giving it doesn’t know what they are talking about. Be thoughtful. Be kind. Speak as God would want you to.

Roger